I drove past the school that DD1 will be going to next year for PP. Ellen Stirling PS in Ellenbrook, Perth and the kids were out for break at the time. They weren't in school uniform though. There were about 3 kids who had uniform on and the others were all in normal clothes. Is this normal? Do some schools not have a uniform or where they just celebrating something?
Some schools do not have a compulsory uniform. My primary school did not require the uniform to be worn and it was probably a 50/50 split between those who did and those who did not.
They could have been having a 'mufti day' to celebrate something and allowed to wear regular clothes or they may have been doing a casual friday? If there were some kids in uniform I would say this is what was going on. Our school has mufti days from time to time as fundraisers for different things but there are always a handful of kids that still wear uniform.
Very dissapointing for me as I really wanted to see what the school uniform is like but I couldn't see much. Silly I know, but it put me off a bit. I was excited to see what the school was like and here were all these untidy children running around and I didn't see any teachers at all supervising them.
Trust me hun, if you drive past a school at playtime, it is often very very hard at first glance to see any teachers. Usually there will be only one, maybe two on 'duty' depending on the size of the school and they may simply have been in a different area that you couldn't see as you drove past. I don't think you should start changing your thoughts about the school based on this one drive by. If you want, make an appointment to tour the school and ask these things. They will be more than welcome to show you around and give you some information even though it is a while till your little one starts school. Perhaps even look up the school on the net - not the myschool website LOL, but each school will have their own website.
I've done all the research on the web I can find. It is a new school and only in it's second year of operation so there is not too much info on it. It is the PS in our catchment area and we can't afford to go Private right now. So I have no other choice but this school and I am just so hoping it is going to be a nice school.
Best thing to do is make an apointment to see the principal and ask them some questions. Generally speaking public primary schools in WA have compulsary uniform policy, so there was probably a reason they were having a 'free dress day'. As for duty teachers, most schools have only a few staff on duty at break times- I know at my school duty teachers where fluro yellow vests so we are highly visable, but this may not be the case will all schools. Don't be afraid though to call up and ask a barrage of questions, it is good to know things to put your mind at rest.
Because both kindy and pre-primary aren't compulsory, I think the uniforms aren't compulsory either. Having said that, at my ds's kindy every kid wears the uniform and in the pre-primary class there's only one who doesn't. Was it all year groups you saw or just the littlies?
I would say they were having a casual day Most school have a uniform, I don't think it's always compulsory but more parents get them. Jaidans kinda in Hobart wasn't compulsory but there were only 2 kids in his class of 35 that weren't in uniform.
As for duty teachers, my boys go to a really great private school, and there is only 2 teachers on duty at break times. I don't think it means anything about the school.
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Why no school uniform?
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